France and England in North America, Part III: La Salle, Discovery of The Great West
should this time be of the party; and should proceed from Quebec to
France, with his brother Cavelier, to solicit succors for the colony,
while he himself returned to Texas. A new obstacle was presently
interposed. La Salle, whose constitution seems to have suffered from his
long course of hardships, was attacked in November with hernia. Joutel
offered to conduct the party in his stead; but La Salle replied that his
own presence was indispensable at the Illinois. He had the good fortune
to recover, within four or five weeks, sufficiently to undertake the
journey; and all in the fort busied themselves in preparing an outfit.
In such straits were they for clothing, that the sails of the "Belle"
were cut up to make coats for the adventurers. Christmas came, and was
solemnly observed. There was a midnight mass in the chapel, where
Membré, Cavelier, Douay, and their priestly brethren stood before the
altar, in vestments strangely contrasting with the rude temple and the
ruder garb of the worshippers. And as Membré elevated the consecrated
wafer, and the lamps burned dim through the clouds of incense, the
kneeling group drew from the daily miracle such consolation as true
Catholics alone can know. When Twelfth Night came, all gathered in the
hall, and cried, after the jovial old custom, "The King drinks," with
hearts, perhaps, as cheerless as their cups, which were filled with cold
water.
[Sidenote: THE LAST FAREWELL.]
On the morrow, the band of adventurers mustered for the fatal
journey.[320] The five horses, bought by La Salle of the Indians, stood
in the area of the fort, packed for the march; and here was gathered the
wretched remnant of the colony,--those who were to go, and those who
were to stay behind. These latter were about twenty in all,--Barbier,
who was to command in the place of Joutel; Sablonnière, who, despite his
title of marquis, was held in great contempt;[321] the friars, Membré
and Le Clerc,[322] and the priest Chefdeville, besides a surgeon,
soldiers, laborers, seven women and girls, and several children, doomed,
in this deadly exile, to wait the issues of the journey, and the
possible arrival of a tardy succor. La Salle had made them a last
address, delivered, we are told, with that winning air which, though
alien from his usual bearing, seems to have been at times a natural
expression of this unhappy man.[323] It was a bitter parting, one of
sighs, tears, and embracings,--the farewell of those on whose souls had
sunk a heavy boding that they would never meet again.[324] Equipped and
weaponed for the journey, the adventurers filed from the gate, crossed
the river, and held their slow march over the prairies beyond, till
intervening woods and hills shut Fort St. Louis forever from their
sight.
FOOTNOTES:
[301] Called by Joutel, Rivière aux Boeufs.
[302] Joutel, _Journal Historique_, 108; _Relation_ (Margry, iii. 174);
_Procès Verbal fait au poste de St. Louis, le 18 Avril, 1686_.
[303] Joutel, _Journal Historique_, 109. Le Clerc, who was not present,
says a hundred.
[304] The Bay of St. Louis, St. Bernard's Bay, or Matagorda Bay,--for it
has borne all these names,--was also called Espiritu Santo Bay by the
Spaniards, in common with several other bays in the Gulf of Mexico. An
adjoining bay still retains the name.
[305] Cavelier, in his report to the minister, says: "We reached a large
village, enclosed with a kind of wall made of clay and sand, and
fortified with little towers at intervals, where we found the arms of
Spain engraved on a plate of copper, with the date of 1588, attached to
a stake. The inhabitants gave us a kind welcome, and showed us some
hammers and an anvil, two small pieces of iron cannon, a small brass
culverin, some pike-heads, some old sword-blades, and some books of
Spanish comedy; and thence they guided us to a little hamlet of
fishermen, about two leagues distant, where they showed us a second
stake, also with the arms of Spain, and a few old chimneys. All this
convinced us that the Spaniards had formerly been here." (Cavelier,
_Relation du Voyage que mon frère entreprit pour découvrir l'embouchure
du fleuve de Missisipy_.) The above is translated from the original
draft of Cavelier, which is in my possession. It was addressed to the
colonial minister, after the death of La Salle. The statement concerning
the Spaniards needs confirmation.
[306] Compare Joutel with the Spanish account in _Carta en que se da
noticia de un viaje hecho á la Bahia de Espíritu Santo y de la poblacion
que tenian ahi los Franceses; Coleccion de Varios Documentos_, 25.
[307] For the above incidents of life at Fort St. Louis, see Joutel,
_Relation_ (Margry, iii. 185-218, _passim_). The printed condensation of
the narrative omits most of these particulars.
[308] Joutel, _Relation_ (Margry, iii. 206). Compare Le Clerc, ii. 296.
Cavelier, always disposed to exaggerate, says that ten men were killed.
La Salle had previously had encounters with the Indians, and punished
them severely for the trouble they had given his men. Le Clerc says of
the principal fight: "Several Indians were wounded, a few were killed,
and others made prisoners,--one of whom, a girl of three or four years,
was baptized, and died a few days after, as the first-fruit of this
mission, and a sure conquest sent to heaven."
[309] Joutel, _Relation_ (Margry, iii. 219).
[310] Cavelier says that he actually reached the Mississippi; but, on
the one hand, the abbé did not know whether the river in question was
the Mississippi or not; and, on the other, he is somewhat inclined to
mendacity. Le Clerc says that La Salle thought he had found the river.
According to the _Procès Verbal_ of 18 April, 1686, "il y arriva le 13
Février." Joutel says that La Salle told him "qu'il n'avoit point trouvé
sa rivière."
[311] _Procès Verbal fait au poste de St. Louis, le 18 Avril, 1686._
[312] Cavelier, _Relation du Voyage pour découvrir l'Embouchure du
Fleuve de Missisipy_.
[313] Joutel, _Journal Historique_, 140; Anastase Douay in Le Clerc, ii.
303; Cavelier, _Relation_. The date is from Douay. It does not appear,
from his narrative, that they meant to go farther than the Illinois.
Cavelier says that after resting here they were to go to Canada. Joutel
supposed that they would go only to the Illinois. La Salle seems to have
been even more reticent than usual.
[314] Joutel, _Relation_ (Margry, iii. 226).
[315] Joutel, _Relation_ (Margry, iii. 244, 246).
[316] "Ce fût une desolation extrême pour nous tous qui desesperions de
revoir jamais nostre Ange tutélaire, le Sieur de la Salle.... Tout le
jour se passa en pleurs et en larmes."--_Douay in Le Clerc_, ii. 315.
[317] Douay in Le Clerc, ii. 321; Cavelier, _Relation_.
[318] Douay in Le Clerc, ii. 324, 325.
[319] "L'égalité d'humeur du Chef rassuroit tout le monde; et il
trouvoit des resources à tout par son esprit qui relevoit les espérances
les plus abatues."--Joutel, _Journal Historique_, 152.
"Il seroit difficile de trouver dans l'Histoire un courage plus
intrepide et plus invincible que celuy du Sieur de la Salle dans les
évenemens contraires; il ne fût jamais abatu, et il espéroit toujours
avec le secours du Ciel de venir à bout de son entreprise malgré tous
les obstacles qui se présentoient."--_Douay in Le Clerc_, ii. 327.
[320] I follow Douay's date, who makes the day of departure the seventh
of January, or the day after Twelfth Night. Joutel thinks it was the
twelfth of January, but professes uncertainty as to all his dates at
this time, as he lost his notes.
[321] He had to be kept on short allowance, because he was in the habit
of bargaining away everything given to him. He had squandered the little
that belonged to him at St. Domingo, in amusements "indignes de sa
naissance," and in consequence was suffering from diseases which
disabled him from walking. (_Procès Verbal, 18 Avril, 1686._)
[322] Maxime le Clerc was a relative of the author of _L'Établissement
de la Foi_.
[323] "Il fit une Harangue pleine d'éloquence et de cet air engageant
qui luy estoit si naturel: toute la petite Colonie y estoit presente et
en fût touchée jusques aux larmes, persuadée de la nécessité de son
voyage et de la droiture de ses intentions."--_Douay in Le Clerc_, ii,
330.
[324] "Nous nous separâmes les uns des autres, d'une manière si tendre
et si triste qu'il sembloit que nous avions tous le secret pressentiment
que nous ne nous reverrions jamais."--Joutel, _Journal Historique_,
158.
CHAPTER XXVII.
1687.
ASSASSINATION OF LA SALLE.
His Followers.--Prairie Travelling--A Hunters' Quarrel--The Murder
of Moranget.--The Conspiracy.--Death of La Salle: his Character.
[Sidenote: LA SALLE'S FOLLOWERS.]
The travellers were crossing a marshy prairie towards a distant belt of
woods that followed the course of a little river. They led with them
their five horses, laden with their scanty baggage, and, with what was
of no less importance, their stock of presents for Indians. Some wore
the remains of the clothing they had worn from France, eked out with
deer-skins, dressed in the Indian manner; and some had coats of old
sail-cloth. Here was La Salle, in whom one would have known, at a
glance, the chief of the party; and the priest, Cavelier, who seems to
have shared not one of the high traits of his younger brother. Here,
too, were their nephews, Moranget and the boy Cavelier, now about
seventeen years old; the trusty soldier Joutel; and the friar Anastase
Douay. Duhaut followed, a man of respectable birth and education; and
Liotot, the surgeon of the party. At home, they might perhaps have
lived and died with a fair repute; but the wilderness is a rude
touchstone, which often reveals traits that would have lain buried and
unsuspected in civilized life. The German Hiens, the ex-buccaneer, was
also of the number. He had probably sailed with an English crew; for he
was sometimes known as _Gemme Anglais_, or "English Jem."[325] The Sieur
de Marie; Teissier, a pilot; L'Archevêque, a servant of Duhaut; and
others, to the number in all of seventeen,--made up the party; to which
is to be added Nika, La Salle's Shawanoe hunter, who, as well as another
Indian, had twice crossed the ocean with him, and still followed his
fortunes with an admiring though undemonstrative fidelity.
They passed the prairie, and neared the forest. Here they saw buffalo;
and the hunters approached, and killed several of them. Then they
traversed the woods; found and forded the shallow and rushy stream, and
pushed through the forest beyond, till they again reached the open
prairie. Heavy clouds gathered over them, and it rained all night; but
they sheltered themselves under the fresh hides of the buffalo they had
killed.
[Sidenote: PRAIRIE TRAVELLING.]
It is impossible, as it would be needless, to follow the detail of their
daily march.[326] It was such an one, though with unwonted hardship, as
is familiar to the memory of many a prairie traveller of our own time.
They suffered greatly from the want of shoes, and found for a while no
better substitute than a casing of raw buffalo-hide, which they were
forced to keep always wet, as, when dry, it hardened about the foot like
iron. At length they bought dressed deer-skin from the Indians, of which
they made tolerable moccasins. The rivers, streams, and gullies filled
with water were without number; and to cross them they made a boat of
bull-hide, like the "bull boat" still used on the Upper Missouri. This
did good service, as, with the help of their horses, they could carry it
with them. Two or three men could cross in it at once, and the horses
swam after them like dogs. Sometimes they traversed the sunny prairie;
sometimes dived into the dark recesses of the forest, where the buffalo,